Hazbin Hotel
The door to Joshua's door opened, with the man himself fully dressed and ready for the day; as Joshua exited his room, he pulled the door shut behind him with a soft clack before heading on down the hallway to head down to the lobby. As he walked down the hallway with a relaxed gait in his stride, a few doors down in the direction he was walking opened.
As Joshua soon passed the opened door, he gave the occupant a passing glance. Velvette, a…reluctant resident of the hotel at the very least from what he gathered from last night. From his passing glance at the Overlord as he walked past her room, the…Overlord Social Media Influencer was looking down at her phone with her face scratched up in distaste as she held her door open by the handle.
Overlooking the fact that he had no idea what a social media influencer was, and what it entailed to her being an overlord of it, Joshua decided it was best he did not bother with whatever it entailed if it pertained to whatever caused most sinners in he's seen so far pay so much attention to their flat screen phones.
Joshua focused his eyes back to his front as he continued to head through the hallway, whatever the case was, Charlie was generous to offer Velvette a room to stay in for the time being, much to the displeasure and vehement refusal of Vaggie of dealing with another Overlord within the hotel.
The varying reactions of the other occupants were different to say the least.
"Oi." Velvette's voice broke his line of thought, prompting him to momentarily halt in his tracks and give the overlord a glance back. She was now standing outside her doorway as she pointed at him while she kept her phone in her other hand and resting her wrist against her hip, "I need some questions answered, and you're one of the blokes that I have to pry the answers from." she said with a snark tone and distasteful look on her face.
Joshua simply stared back with an even look in his eyes, before answering the woman with a plain tone of voice, "That depends on the questions you ask, miss, as I am not inclined to answer you without clause." he stoically answered.
Velvette released a missive breath from her nose and scrunched it up a bit before resuming her little chat with him as she relaxed her arm she used to point at Joshua to her side, "Relax, wrapped jerky man." she quipped with a roll of her eyes, and crossed her arms, "It's a simple question." Velvette said with an annoyed tone, and followed it up with her question, "But what sort of relation are you in between the Hotel and Carmine's business? Seems a bit weird you're moonlighting between the two, yeah?" she asked with a snippish tone.
Joshua blinked at her question, before furrowing his brow as he answered the overlord, "hmm…well if you must know, the simple answer is I need capital, and Miss Carmine provides it in return for my skill in gunsmithing. Nothing more, nothing less, miss Velvette." he explained, before turning around to leave.
As Joshua continued his trek to head down to the main floor, the sound of Velvette shutting her room door echoed behind him before her footsteps were soon heard catching up with him as she stormed to walk beside him. "Oi, you didn't answer the rest of the question, ya bastard!" she snarled as she walked beside him while glaring up at him.
Joshua continued walking while paying the insult no mind, and kept his eyes forward, "Aside from helping Miss Carmine from time to time, Charlie invited my help, and so I volunteered to help." he answered while momentarily glancing sideways at her, before looking back in front of him as he descended down the stairs out from the hallway.
Velvette however began to trail behind him as his answer did not seem to satisfy her, "Volunteer?" she asked while giving his back a disgusted look as she too walked down the stairs to where the lobby was. "In hell? Am I to assume you guys open up a soup kitchen too every sunday?" Velvette added with a snide tone.
While Joshua continued walking across the lobby towards a nearby closet, Velvette stood in the midst of the lobby and rolled her eyes at the thought of anyone doing anything generous in hell.
"Great idea Velvette!" Charlie's voice chimed in, prompting Velvette to jump a bit in surprise at the sudden intrusion into the conversation by Lucifer's daughter.
Velvette shifted her focus away from Joshua who was still in the midst of rummaging whatever he was looking for in the closet, and looked over at Charlie who was walking out from the entrance of the kitchen with a bright look on her face while holding a mug of coffee in hand. "Why didn't I think of that sooner!" she gushed with a wide smile, and curled her arms in with an excited look, "What better way to attract sinners to the hotel, than to open the doors to the needy and hungry!" she declared with her finger raised up in declaration.
Velvette deadpanned at the princess of hell, "It was a jo-" she was then cut off from saying anymore as Charlie dashed over and palmed her shoulder while directing her mug out as if she were pointing with it up to the air.
"And with you here, I bet we could invite many more through your social media!" Charlie added with a giddy tone and smile, while giving the overlord a sideways look while keeping her pose.
Velvette forcefully pushed Charlie away from her with a disheveled look, "Ease off the clothes, princess!" she grounded out with her teeth, before brushing her shoulder off of any imperfections of her dress, "I just made this dress of mine, and I'd prefer if you don't mess up the merchandise!"
With a clueless look, Charlie looked back down at Velvette, "Oh!" she then brightened up with a disarming smile, "My bad." she worded out unsurely.
While in the background, Joshua was pulling out a Browning Shotgun, then began checking his ammo within a duffel bag whilst he knelt down to dig through the large bag. Not far away Husk was in the midst of making a screwdriver cocktail behind his bar, and eyeballed Joshua with a raised eyebrow of an almost disinterested expression as he took a quick drink of his morning alcohol.
Back with Charlie and Velvette on the other hand, Velvette huffed with an annoyed scoff as she made her way to the kitchen, "Whatever. What sort of coffee swill did you brew?" she asked as her voice trailed off into the kitchen.
"It's actually a favorite of my dad's!" Charlie answered as she followed after Velvette with a bit of a smile, "He introduced it to me when I turned a hundred and eighty, and boy golly~" her voice echoed off as she went into the kitchen as well to speak directly with the overlord.
While the murmurings of the chatter of the two echoed from out of the kitchen, Husk finished off his screwdriver drink while keeping an eye on Joshua. The burnt man himself nodded to himself before zipping his dufflebag up and hefted it up to carry it by its strap over his shoulder and held his shotgun against his shoulder while shutting the closet door shut.
As Joshua walked across the lobby and passed the bar, Husk spoke up with a critical tone, "Boomstick man." He said to gain the burnt sinner's attention.
Joshua stopped midway to look over at Husk, and gave the bartender his attention with an even stare, "hmm?" he inquired with hum, not bothering to address the nickname given to him by the cat demon. It certainly wasn't the worst of nicknames, and it certainly fit the bill for him, but was not about to comment on it. "Yes?"
Husk gestured at Joshua with his hand, "How come everytime you go out, you look like you're about to go to war." he asked with a flippant look.
Joshua stared back at Husk as he hefted the strap a bit over his shoulder to get it into a better position, before speaking back to Husk with a flat tone of voice, "I am simply finishing some business, and it pays to be prepared." he answered.
"Hmph." Husk reached under the bar and pulled up an empty bottle, and eyeballed it for a second, before tossing it into a nearby garbage bin. "Whatever." he remarked with a gruff look before making his way out from the bar to stand outside his workspace, "You mind if I tag along? I need to stop by one of my suppliers for a refill."
With a peculiar expression in his eyes from Joshua, he turned around fully to give Husk his fully undivided attention, "That depends, as while I do not condone the practice of drinking to the state of inebriation, I do not mind some fellow company. Hell tends to be a bit-"
"Violent, chaotic, messy?" Husk listed off with a raised eyebrow well expressing his tone in a grouchy way, "I know, it's why it's better when you have company, the less chances of some random group running up on you to lynch you." he remarked with an annoyed gruff.
Joshua nodded in agreement, "Point well spoken." he said, before turning to leave with Husk trailing behind him.
Once the two left, Charlie eventually exited out from the kitchen, "Hey, Joshua!...Where'd he go?" She asked herself while looking around. She wanted to actually entertain the idea of opening a soup kitchen to the public, and since Joshua was already up, Charlie was of the mind to discuss it with him first, since Vaggie was still in bed.
"Who, Joshua?" Vaggie said, as she made her way down the stairs while stretching her arms up after she stepped down from the stairs. After a bit of yawn, she blinked her bleary eye to stare over at Charlie with a curious look in her eye. "I think I just saw him and Husk exit the lobby." she remarked, having seen the two just before disappearing around the exit of the lobby while she was in the process of slowly walking her tired morning self down the stairs.
"Oh." Charlie mouthed silently, before smiling once more at Vaggie as she placed her fingertips together, "Hey! Miss Velvette came up with a great idea for the hotel!" she said with a giddy tone.
"For the fucking last time, princess, I was Joking!" Velvette's voice echoed from out of the kitchen with an exhausted tone.
Charlie, with an ever positive outlook, turned and cupped her mouth to holler back at the overlord who chose to spend her morning in the kitchen over a brew of coffee and going through her social media feed, "Doesn't mean I won't discredit the thought~!" she chimed back expressively.
"Eugh! It's too early for this shit!" Velvette bemoaned.
Turning around to face Vaggie, Charlie bit her lip in excitement at the idea while Vaggie herself was giving her a bemused expression…that, or she was amused at the frustration Charlie was giving the overlord. "So I was thinking we open the front gates, pitch some tents, oh! Before that, we need a list of things-"
"Hon." Vaggie placed her hands on Charlie shoulders whilst interrupting her partner from getting ahead of herself, "You're forgetting one thing…" she then deadpanned, "Joshua planted land mines on the front lawn." she digressed with an unamused look.
"...oh yeah…heheh…" Charlie chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of her neck, before snapping her fingers of another idea, "I know!" She began once more with a bright look, and looked back down at Vaggie with a smile, "We can rent out a building!"
With a raised eyebrow, Vaggie stared back up at Charlie with her arms crossed, a bit critical of the idea, "And who'd even be willing to do that? Do you even know anyone that has a place to rent from?" she asked pointedly.
"You look'n for a place to rent out for a soup kitchen?" Arackniss's voice broke the two's attention on each other, as the brother of Angel made his way down the stairway with a toothy smirk. "If ya's look'n for a place to do a soup kitchen, I know just the man to hook ya's up with!" he remarked with a proud smirk, before directly glancing at Charlie.
"Oh, and by the way, the room and bed was nice, far cry from the dumpster bed my home has." Arackniss added with some amount of genuine appreciation.
"Thanks!" Charlie answered with a charming smile, glad that the brother of Angel had an accommodating sleep. Shrugging haphazardly, Charlie continued to smile as she said, "I mean, who would want to stay at a place with a terrible bed and room!?" she asked, somewhat rhetorically.
"Back up a bit." Vaggie interjected herself into the conversation as she step in between the two, and looked at Arackniss with an uncertain look, "Who's the guy you'd be willing to introduce Charlie to?"
"Easy!" Arackniss answered with a snap of his fingers from his upper limb arm while his others were at his side, "My old man likes to throw parties every now and then amongst the italian district of pride ring, it'd be a simple matter of ringing him up and negotiating a deal with him!" he offered.
"No!" Angel interjected as he stormed down the stairs with an upset demeanor, "Damn it Arackniss, I thought I told you I didn't want you doing the old man's business on the hotel's property!? The last thing I need is him sticking his nose into this place!" he ranted as he finally reached the floor to glare at his older bother.
Arackniss turned to give his younger brother a smirk, "Oh relax 'Tony, it's not like you have to attend the thing. And besides, I'm sure pops already knows ya live here." he smugly stated with his arms crossed.
Angel narrowed his eyes scathingly and crooked his wrists against his sides, "Watch it, Jon', I ain't in the mood for this shit in the morning." he warned.
Charlie meanwhile, looked between the two with a confused look, before speaking up, "So…um…is that a yes or a no on the place and person I can get in touch with?" she asked, unsuredly.
"Yes/No!" Arackniss and Angel said at once to Charlie, before looking back at each other with a squared off look on their face.
Angel threw his hands out with exasperation as he yelled, "Fucking stop it, I don't need the old man getting involved with this hotel, he's done enough in our old lives, I don't need him screwing me over any more!" he argued.
"That's rich!" Arackniss yelled back while poking up at Angel's chest with a glowering look, "Don't think me and pops don't know about your adult film acting! Don't be talking that shit when I know full well you're balls deep on some strangers pickle. You're lucky ma and sis ain't in hell with us in hell!"
"Don't be bringing those two into this conversation 'Niss." Angel Dust slapped the offending hand away from him and glared down into his older brother's face, "What I do with myself in hell is my own business!"
While the two brothers once again devolved into another argument in their italian language, Velvette eventually exited out from the kitchen after finishing a cup of coffee and stood right outside the entrance to focus a bit on texting into her phone. Unbeknownst to her however, a shadow warped from out of the ground before coalescing into the form of Alastor as he stood beside the female overlord who was too focused on her phone to notice the older overlord.
"So how was your night, hmm?" He asked Velvette with a toothy grin, before sipping from a warm cup of something.
The sudden intrusion into her personal space, added onto the fact that the cannaballistic radio demon himself stood beside her, made Velvette jump in shock and fumble her phone before shunting herself away from the overlord and up against the wall with a wide eyed look, "Fucking 'ell, put a fucking bell on ya or sometin'!" she screeched and palmed her chest.
Alastor chortled a bit with a wide smile, and lowered his tea cup from himself before wisping them away, "I would…but…" he then leaned forward to her with a menacing look, "Where'd be the fun in that if my victims hear me coming?" he asked with a menacing look, his face becoming a bit more demonic for emphasis for measure.
"Alastor!" Charlie spoke up as she turned to give the over a soft glare, while also presenting a brave look against the radio demon himself, "Can you please not harass the guests of the hotel?" she asked.
In response, Alastor backed off from Velvette, "Oh please, I was simply entertaining myself with the company of Miss Velvette." he chuckled warmly with a brimming smile, before walking off with his mic cane in hand.
Charlie walked over to Velvette and smiled disarmingly towards the young female overlord before standing apart from her, "Sorry about that, it takes some time to get used to his…essentrencies." she remarked with a nervous chuckle.
Velvette directed her attention at Charlie with an incredulous look, "You're fucking mental, is what you are, if you think I can get used to living around that sort of company." she argued.